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How To Back a Painting

Why Do I Do This?

How to back a painting

Why Sharon – Why?

I have a pet peeve of seeing art that is not finished properly on the back.  I mean who cares.  You don’t see it.  Evidently I care because it really bugs me to see art for sale and turn it over and see the mess that is usually there in original artwork.

I’m not sure how I always get paint on the back of the painting but I always do.  When I sell my art I really want to put out a beautiful product and I can’t really do that with paint on the back of the painting.  When I paint on a panel and get paint on the back, there’s really not a lot I can about that other than put it in a frame and cover it that way.

When I complete a painting on a stretched canvas that I don’t intend to frame I want the back to have a paper backing on it.  I know this is my personal preference but I’m pretty sure I can’t be the only one.  Anyway, in this video you will learn how I back a painting with paper and wired to hang.

If I were framing the painting I would also follow these exact same steps but on the frame with the painting attached to it.  I’d tape the frame with double stick tape and then add the brown paper and the hooks and the wire.

Recently on our trip around the British Isles the cruise ship had an art auction.  I didn’t know that was a thing on cruise ships but I guess it is.  I didn’t really look at the art very closely, but I did look at the backs to see how they were finished.  They weren’t.  They were not finished at all.  The paintings were put in the frames, the canvas was raveling out, paint was on each of them and they looked very amateurish.  I really could not believe what I was seeing.  It made me very peevish!  (see what I did there).  I didn’t look at anything else.  I’d seen enough.